October 2021

Motors would be where it is now without Andy Savva’s observations? “No,” he replied emphatically. “When he came down and said ‘put the reception at the front’, that was a big eye-opener. How I didn’t see that I don’t know. It instantly made sense, and of course doing that opened up the end bay, and created another bay with a ramp. We took a lot on board from what he said. There is always room for more improvement though.” Achievement Commenting on the work that has gone into the revamp at Lushington Motors, The Garage Inspector Andy Savva concluded: “It’s really encouraging to see the progress Matt and Andy have achieved together with their team after my visit to them back in 2019. Sometimes it’s not easy to seek help but even more challenging and daunting to actually make the changes that are recommended. I have been in contact with them remotely, keeping tabs on the improvements and these have had a massive impact both to their customers but also their team. “Sometimes you just need a new pair of eyes to see opportunities and what makes The Garage Inspector tick is to see businesses like Lushington Motors, take advise and get on and do it, so all the credit must go to Matt, Andy and the rest of the team.” OCTOBER 2021 AFTERMARKET 59 www.aftermarketonline.net but we were still busy as we do private ambulances, taxis, patient transfer vehicles, and particularly funeral cars, as a lot of the local garages were shut. They were coming from as far as Crawley to here.” For those who don’t know Sussex, that’s quite a way to go to a garage, approximately 50 miles via local roads. Andy continued: “We informed all of our customers that we were still open. When the MOTs were extended, I went through the whole of the database, each month, and extended each customer MOT. Six months on, we sent them another text to remind them that it was due. We produce lists every month for that, and if they don’t get their MOT done, we phone them up. We also print them out. In April there were eight pages of customers MOTs due, the last time I checked, the list for October was 38 pages!” Online Andy Savva’s advice was not just about the layout of the building, as you might imagine. When we were here with him last, he was in the process of helping Lushington Motors get the most from their GMS. “Every single estimate is now done on here now” said Andy Simpson. “We used to work it out separately and call them. Now we do it via Autowork Online and email it. Our customers tell us that we do the best estimates. Not in terms of the price, but because of the way we can lay it out. We do still use a paper diary though. If we write it down, everyone can see it. Not everyone can access the computer all the time. It just works better for us." Storage Moving beyond reception, we headed into the business end of the garage. Before we got to the workshop proper we found ourselves in the garage’s new storage area, where diagnostic kit and parts are stored, separately we might add. “We order all parts in advance, “said Andy,” pointing to the shelves. “These are all service kits for this week. Every one is checked when it comes in, all the parts are booked in and out on the job sheet.” Next, we found the oil storage area, and then the tyre machines. “They used to be in the workshop,” Andy reminded us. “They are used all the time. We keep a range of middle-of- the-road tyres, so we have quite a few sizes we can use straight away. If people ask us, we can offer them these.” Workshop Moving into the workshop proper, Andy said: “We have installed three new service ramps and a scissor ramp where the tyre machine used to be. We have also purchased another new scanner, we now have five different scanners including Snap-on, Autel, and Autologic.” He added: “We are still not finished, we want to keep on improving. We have a cleaner, Ed, that comes in for three hours each week. He keeps the garage clean, he does little bits of painting here and there. It makes a massive difference. Outside reception, we want to do a disabled bay and a drop-off bay, so that we can park for the customers. We are also looking into an electric vehicle charging station. We want to make the whole process as easy as possible.” Andy concluded: “There must be a reason why we are busy all the time and have been all through the pandemic. One thing that Andy Savva said when he was down here was that he could not believe the trust people have in us.” As we were leaving, we managed to get a few moments with Matt, and we asked him if he though Lushington Sometimes you just need a new pair of eyes to see opportunities... ”